One of the things I’ve heard a lot lately is from AEW or even NXK UK to create a TV title to give them a secondary belt to defend on their show outside of a World, a Woman’s, or a Tag Team title. Fans have been saying that either show would be better if a TV Title was created to give the men someone to fit for that is lower than a World Title.
Talk like that makes me wonder if people knew what the TV Title usually was in places that had them.
The most popular TV Title was the one that the Crocketts had that eventually became the WCW Television title they used between 1974 until the belt was retired in 2000. It has a lineage, most of those stars became big names, but that is only part of what a TV Title was for.
The Television title was to give a championship that was defended on TV back in the studio wrestling days when most matches were big stars against jobbers. Sure, there were some good TV Title matches, but many of those were on pay-per-view events while the regular TV Title matches were the star (who was champion) defending against a jobber like Rocky King or George South inside the studio. Not exactly top-level competition. When the Monday night wars started with Nitro and RAW bringing us better matches every week, a TV Title wasn’t needed anymore.
Heck, before the belt was retired, the last champion was Jim Duggan finding it in a dumpster and defending against The Cuban Assassin or some recent graduate from the WCW Power Plant. The TV title was no longer needed. I don’t think Duggan was going to make any more money for WCW by defending a belt while cleaning out trash can every night.
There must be a better alternative for either show besides a Television title. A light heavyweight belt could be an idea. How about a Hardcore Title? AEW especially has hardcore matches that were decent on their pay-per-view shows so why not create a title for that instead? Heck, what about a “Brass Knuckles” style title where the rules are relaxed and the winner is decided by a knock out of some sort? Another idea is a title that kind of acts like the Money in the Bank briefcase where not only does the belt holder have to actually defend the title but they have the option to challenge for the World Title or any other belts they qualify for (no men taking a belt from the Woman’s champion).
There are a lot of ideas out there to fill out the programming of either NXT UK or AEW but going back in time isn’t the only answer available. Champions like Arm Anderson, Tully Blanchard, or Steve Austin were fine back in their day but I’m not so sure their ways would work in the same ways in today. There must be a different answer to either companies issue s besides bringing out a Television Title.
